Barbara Sheehan Surrenders To Serve 5-Year Sentence For Gun Possession Conviction
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Queens woman who shot and killed her allegedly abusive husband is heading to prison.
Barbara Sheehan, 52, surrendered Friday to serve a five-year sentence after her gun possession conviction was upheld earlier this month.
"I shouldn't be getting any years for anything. I didn't do anything. I defended myself in my own house," Sheehan said turned herself in at the courthouse in Kew Gardens.
Sheehan fatally shot her husband, retired NYPD Sgt. Raymond Sheehan, nearly a dozen times with his two guns -- a revolver and a Glock -- in February 2008.
Sheehan was to be taken to Riker's Island before being moved to a state prison upstate.
Family members shouted words of encouragement, including "Love you, Barb," "You're my hero," and "You'll be okay," as she was led away, CBS 2's Steve Langford reported.
"I didn't say goodbye to her. What I told her is that this is not the end of the road, that the struggle continues," attorney Niall MacGiollabhui said.
During her trial in 2011, Sheehan testified she feared for her life and shot her husband in self-defense after he threatened to kill her if she didn't go with him on a Florida vacation.
The Howard Beach woman was acquitted of murder, but found guilty on one charge of criminal possession of a weapon. The jury convicted Sheehan only of picking up and using the Glock, apparently agreeing with Sheehan's claim she fired the first gun in self-defense.
"We certainly think she shouldn't be going to jail," MacGiollabhui said.
Family members told CBS 2 that they were standing by Sheehan.
"My father was a monster and what she did is, I believe he would have killed her and probably would have killed us," Sheehan's son, Raymond, said.
The pursuit of an appeal will continue while Sheehan serves her sentence, Langford reported, but her attorney remained optimistic.
"The question is, if somebody uses a gun in self defense, surely they cannot be guilty of criminal possession of that weapon," MacGiollabhui said.
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